Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Blackouts

So the Ticat braintrust in their infinite wisdom, has decided to blackout two games in the summer. As I have season tickets, it doesn't affect me personally, but I do have an opinion. I think this is a terrible idea. I understand the desire to boost ticket sales, however I think it is a false economy. They may get an extra few fans for those games, compared to the surrounding ones, but I'm guessing the increase will be modest. The free advertising and marketing you lose out on are incalcuable. Consider a Hamilton kid today. He can watch NFL games with no blackouts. Say he only goes to a couple of Ticats games or none at all. I want him to be able to watch every Ticat game on TV possible, just like the Bills games. Hopefully he becomes a fan, watches more games, and down the line as he becomes a teenager and adult, he or she will start attending Ticat games more regularly, rather than becoming a fan of some NFL team from some crappy dying Midwestern city he or she will likely never visit. Plus having all the games on TV allows the casual fans to watch and discuss the game over the next few days. Consider the 500,000 people in Hamilton. With the blackout, you might get a couple of thousand extra fans (maybe). You're probably losing a few tens of thousands from watching the game, which in my opinion is worth a lot more over the years. I know that some of the Western teams like Edmonton and BC blackout a lot of their games too. I don't think that is a good idea either. You need to give kids the opportunity to become a CFL fan, whether their parents take them to a game or not.

How to increase attendance? A better team would be nice. Continually improving the stadium experience would be another. Deciding whether that extra 50 cents for a beer or a hotdog is really in the longterm interest of your club. Easy for me to say, but cutting out the best free marketing your club has, not a good idea.